By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia Eagles faced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their first Thursday Night Football game of the season. Philly came in looking to continue their momentum after beating the Panthers last week. However, Tom Brady had other plans as the Buccaneers beat Philly 28-22.

It did not start out well for the Eagles. Tampa Bay went right down the field and scored a touchdown on their opening drive. The gameplan on defense seemed to be do not let the Bucs have any big plays. Instead of beating them with the big play they beat them on the ground and in the short passing game. Brady was able to cut up the Eagles defense with surgical precision. He passed for 248 yards on 30/38 attempts and completed two touchdown passes. They faced little resistance throughout the first half. Other than a touchdown pass to Zach Ertz.  Philly put up little fight in either phase of the game.

At times Philly’s offense looked worse than it did last week against the Panthers. They could not get anything done against Tampa’s struggling defensive unit. They were able to keep Jalen Hurts in check. He struggled through his second straight game, and once again was not helped by the play-calling of his rookie Head Coach. They had him dropping back to pass most of the game and when the offense got something going it was largely because of Hurts’ elusiveness.

On the offensive game-plan and performance, “Too much of offense unscripted? Definitely. Wanna make some plays in pocket trying to get it into 30-45% area of unscripted plays,” said Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni.

Additionally, they need to remember they have one of the best running backs in the league in Miles Sanders. He only had one carry and one reception by half-time. When the Eagles had success which was not very often during this game. Sanders helped stabilize them on offense. He got a 23-yard rushing play to give them their longest rush attempt of the game. On that scoring drive they were able to cut the lead to six. Coach Sirianni is committing offensive malpractice by not finding a way to utilize him more.

On his team’s performance and what needs to change, “Always starts with us as coaches to put the players in right position,” said Sirianni.

The Eagles now have a full week to get ready to face the struggling Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday afternoon. They will need to find a way to find a run game and stop somebody on defense. If they want to get their third win of the season.